Otsego County

GAYLORD - Losses in manufacturing employment continue to dictate the state of the local economy.

The loss of 125 manufacturing jobs between January and February inflated Otsego County's unemployment to 7.4 percent, up from 5.3 percent one year ago.

"Manufacturing is pretty rough right now although there have been some sectors that have shown some recovery," said Dan Lopez, labor market analyst for the Michigan Dept. of Career Development (MDCD) in Traverse City. "I'm looking at Otsego County and although it's still down over the whole, you can see where rubber and plastics came up over the month. Unfortunately one month doesn't make a trend."

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Employment in manufacturing is down 3,300 jobs across the northern Lower Peninsula, combining with seasonal slow downs in construction employment to drag the unemployment rate in the 21 counties covered by the Traverse City MDCD office to 10.3 percent. Cheboygan County, dependent on summer tourism, reported the highest unemployment rate in the region, the second highest in the state, at 21.3 percent.

"Obviously right now you've got folks in the manufacturing industry that have perhaps delayed buying a new car to see what's going to happen," said Lopez. "But the fact is we've had so many good years that now when they hit a bad spell the people in the industry are expecting it to be turned around. The major items I think they're just holding off on."

Although unemployment claims are up 46 percent from one year ago in Otsego County, there has been no net loss in the number of jobs demonstrating the double-edged effect of the state's northward population migration.

Private service and retail trade sectors each realized modest job growth as additional medical care and service jobs were created to handle a growing population.

Otsego County's population grew by 29.8 percent over the last decade as reported in Census figures released this week. That was fifth in the state and was not an anomaly as Antrim county grew by 27.1 percent; Charlevoix, 21.5 percent; Che-boygan, 23.6 percent; Crawford, 16.4 percent; Montmorency, 15.4 percent; and Presque Isle, 4.9 percent.

"Overall growth in population is going to equate to more spending and then you also have tourists coming to the area," Lopez observed.

"If for some reason this (manufacturing) situation doesn't turn around and things get worse, then that is going to start having some major effects on the economy," he said.